Discovery of a lifeless and severely emaciated bear sparks concern about depleted bears’ food supply

- Canada -

On Thursday, September 17, a severely emaciated brown bear was found dead at Smith Inlet.

Smith Inlet is about 37 miles north of Port Hardy in the traditional territory of the Gwa’sala-‘Nakwaxda’xw First Nation.

The poor bear was found by a Gwa’sala-‘Nakwaxda’xw team on a river patrol near Nekite River estuary.

The discovery, most definitely heartbreaking, sparks concern and highlights a worrying reality, bears’ food supply.

John Smith is a fisheries supervisor with the band and the one who made the devastating discovery.

The Abbotsford News reports that John Smith said: “The poor bear starved to death.”

Mr. Smith also said that there are very few fish in the river and added that he saw five other bears who seemed “thinner than normal” but not as bad as the dead one.

Ms. Patricia Sewid, Gwa’sala-‘Nakwaxda’xw fisheries officer, went back Port Hardy a few days ago and counted the lowest salmon numbers of her profession.

According to The Abbotsford News she said: “Eight days ago I counted just over 300 pinks, ideally I should have counted over 10,000.”

Ms. Sewid also noticed a low count of berries, which is another food source for the bear population.

Ms. Sewid also explained that the Smith Inlet team is used to observing grizzlies on a regular basis in their territory and it is to be expected to see skinny bears from April to May because that’s the period when bears come out of hibernation and it takes a couple of week to put weight back on.

She rightfully said that discovering an emaciated bear in September is alarming.

On the other hand, Tom Rivest, a guide and co-owner of the Great Bear Lodge, although he agrees that the numbers of salmon and berries are low, he said that a necropsy will determine the cause of death, and he suggested the bear could have some underlying condition which prevented him/her from feeding.

He said that while he saw some bears who were in good shape, he saw others who were just “getting by.”

Rivest added: “The challenge is, we only see a few percent of the habitat the bears use, so a lot of our observations allow only limited conclusions.”

Jake Smith, the Mamalilikulla guardian watchman program manager said the authorities have been informed of the issues that guardian watchmen have come across while patrolling their territories.

However, there has neither been any response nor collaborative efforts and he said: “It seems like the authorities don’t want to do anything about it. They’ll slap your hands and say ‘that’s not right’ when you take matters into your own hand or say that these deaths are just ‘natural’.”

Jake believes that bears starving and dying indicate a serious problem and studies need to be undertaken to see what the real problem is.

He rightfully said: “When a grizzly dies of starvation it’s not natural, it’s a man-made disaster.”

I couldn’t agree more!

Story on Voice For Us Facebook page

Cat falls off out of the sky lands on dog walker and knocks him unconscious

- China -

If CCTV had not captured the bizarre incident, I wouldn’t have believed it.

It happened on July 12, in the city of Harbin, in the province of Heilongjiang.

The 45-second footage shows a man, later identified as Gao Fenghua, walking his dog, a Golden Retriever.

Suddenly, a black and white cat lands on Mr. Fenghua’s head causing him to collapse on the sidewalk and becoming unconscious.

The poor frightened cat runs away right after while the Golden Retriever keeps on walking and sniffing the grass wearing protective shoes on his front paws.

At first, bystanders do not seem interested in finding out what happened to the man laying on the ground, but once his furbaby realizes that his daddy is not behind him, he goes back to check on him.

Then, the dog spots the cat cowering by a building, and slowly approaches him and lunges at him barking.

The feline knows how to defend himself though.

The video proceeds to show a long stare the two furbabies exchange and then it cuts off.

Reportedly, the feline fell of the balcony of his home, and his guardian happens to be Mr. Fenghua’s neighbor.

Mr. Fenghua was hospitalized and is now recovering at home.

He is seeking compensation from his neighbor.

Both furbabies were unharmed.

Story on Voice For Us Facebook page

The Sun

Humboldt penguin waddling all alone in the middle of the road spotted by Nottinghamshire Police

- England -

On the early hours of Sunday morning, August 16, officers patrolling in Broxtowe, Nottinghamshire, spotted an unusual suspect in the middle of the road.

There was a Humboldt penguin waddling all alone.

Humboldt penguins are South American penguins who live mainly in the Pingüino de Humbold National Reserve in the North of Chile, although their habitat comprises most of coastal Chile and Peru.

They are named after the current of water in which they swim, which takes its name from Prussian explorer Alexander von Humboldt.

What do officers do in situations like this? They pull over and question the suspect right?

The least officers could do was to ask the bird where he came from and what was he doing all alone.

CNN reports that Police Constable Gareth Philp of Nottinghamshire Police said: “We see some very interesting things while out on patrol, but a penguin walking up the middle of the road has to be one of the more bizarre findings we have come across.”

He and his colleagues aptly named the penguin Po-Po.

Reportedly, Po-Po was so friendly he even posed for some pictures with the Force.

In the meantime though, a search was on to find out where Po-Po came from.

Can you believe that he had escaped from his enclosure at a farm in Strelley?

Po-Po engaged in a nocturnal adventure and traveled for a mile before cops found him.

Inspector Gordon Fenwick of Nottinghamshire Police said: “Our officers are trained to deal with a variety of incidents with complex demands and it is great that we quickly reunited the penguin with their owner.”

Poor baby, maybe he was just trying to free himself. That is something we will never know…

Story on Voice For Us Facebook page

BBC